More than four million foreign nationals now live in Britain, making it the third most sought-after destination in Europe for immigrants.

Only Germany and Spain have a larger number of foreign citizens, the Daily Express reported Thursday.

Figures released by the EU's statistical office, Eurostat, reveal that 4,020,800 foreign citizens, who account for nearly seven percent of the population, are living in Britain.

In contrast, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia have less than one percent of their populations made up of foreign nationals.

Critics said the official figures for immigrants in Britain had been 'wildly underestimated'.

More than 2.4 million came from countries outside the EU while around 1.6 million originated from member states.

Figures show that on Jan 1, 2009, more than seven million foreign citizens were living in Germany while Spain was home to 5.6 million, more than 12 percent of its population.

British Immigration Minister Damian Green pledged to tackle the crisis inherited by the coalition government.

He said: 'This Government is taking a much tougher approach to immigration.'

'We will take tough action to remove those who have no right to be here by enforcing returns and beefing up the protection of our borders with a new border police force.'